Re: Topband: TB season
Is that QRP QRO (100 watts +-) or real QRP...as in 5 watts or less...:-) Cecil K5DL - Original Message - From: Jim F. j_fit...@yahoo.com To: DAVID CUTHBERT telegraph...@gmail.com; j...@audiosystemsgroup.com; GeorgeWallner aa...@atlanticbb.net Cc: topband@contesting.com Sent: Friday, March 16, 2012 4:00 PM Subject: Re: Topband: TB season And QRPers will be carried around on peoples shoulders instead of being shunned and scorned :-)) Long live the Stew !!! We will all be in it. jim / W1FMR --- On Fri, 3/16/12, GeorgeWallner aa...@atlanticbb.net wrote: From: GeorgeWallner aa...@atlanticbb.net Subject: Re: Topband: TB season To: DAVID CUTHBERT telegraph...@gmail.com, j...@audiosystemsgroup.com Cc: topband@contesting.com Date: Friday, March 16, 2012, 4:07 PM On Fri, 16 Mar 2012 09:09:21 -0600 DAVID CUTHBERT telegraph...@gmail.com wrote: I think we need a July contest. Yes! A July Stew Perry. Unlike the other DX oriented contests, the SP'S scoring is finely grained, so the scarecity of DX will not result in too much of an advantage to the few summer-DX-capable east/west-coasters. 73, George, AA7JV ___ UR RST IS ... ... ..9 QSB QSB - hw? BK ___ UR RST IS ... ... ..9 QSB QSB - hw? BK ___ UR RST IS ... ... ..9 QSB QSB - hw? BK
Re: Topband: TB season
REAL QRP, Cecil - I just completed QRP WAS on Top Band! Love the excitement of workin' someone on 160 with QRP power! Jim R. K9JWV From: chac...@cableone.net To: j_fit...@yahoo.com; telegraph...@gmail.com; j...@audiosystemsgroup.com; aa...@atlanticbb.net Date: Sun, 18 Mar 2012 15:20:21 -0500 CC: topband@contesting.com Subject: Re: Topband: TB season Is that QRP QRO (100 watts +-) or real QRP...as in 5 watts or less...:-) Cecil K5DL - Original Message - From: Jim F. j_fit...@yahoo.com To: DAVID CUTHBERT telegraph...@gmail.com; j...@audiosystemsgroup.com; GeorgeWallner aa...@atlanticbb.net Cc: topband@contesting.com Sent: Friday, March 16, 2012 4:00 PM Subject: Re: Topband: TB season And QRPers will be carried around on peoples shoulders instead of being shunned and scorned :-)) Long live the Stew !!! We will all be in it. jim / W1FMR --- On Fri, 3/16/12, GeorgeWallner aa...@atlanticbb.net wrote: From: GeorgeWallner aa...@atlanticbb.net Subject: Re: Topband: TB season To: DAVID CUTHBERT telegraph...@gmail.com, j...@audiosystemsgroup.com Cc: topband@contesting.com Date: Friday, March 16, 2012, 4:07 PM On Fri, 16 Mar 2012 09:09:21 -0600 DAVID CUTHBERT telegraph...@gmail.com wrote: I think we need a July contest. Yes! A July Stew Perry. Unlike the other DX oriented contests, the SP'S scoring is finely grained, so the scarecity of DX will not result in too much of an advantage to the few summer-DX-capable east/west-coasters. 73, George, AA7JV ___ UR RST IS ... ... ..9 QSB QSB - hw? BK ___ UR RST IS ... ... ..9 QSB QSB - hw? BK ___ UR RST IS ... ... ..9 QSB QSB - hw? BK ___ UR RST IS ... ... ..9 QSB QSB - hw? BK
Re: Topband: TB season
On Sun, 2012-03-18 at 16:38 -0700, Jim F. wrote: Hi Cecil, I use a K1 running 5 watts on 160m from a condo with a wire off the deck into the woods and 'creative' radials. One day a miracle happened and KH7O was calling CQ and heard my signal from NH and I was hooked. Don't know how it happened but he was there all alone and we exchanged reports. Nothing like that has happened since :-)) But hope springs eternal.. 72 / 73 jim / W1FMR The trump statement (and I have seen it on this list)..propagation rules. No matter about beverages and rotatable 160 meter seven element quads at 1200 feet and 5 kw amps or qrp and a wet noodle. All of that comes in somewhere behind propagation. Obviously all those other things do matter. But this thread is about a season. Even when there is slim pickins there is still pickin's..but only if you're there and trying. I certainly can understand about removing the seasonal radials and even seasonal antennas. Somebody here has to get out so the farmer can get onto the field. Just fall back on your second string antenna system and work what you can. As for leaving QRP behind for summer operations I fully intend to do just that. I'm going to smoke the coax with six point five watts!! evil grin. I have been operating my Ranger on 160 at about 35 watts unless I am in an official QRP mode and dial it back to 5 (or less). That's what I have (and I have some more new parts to get it back on the air) so that's what I use. If I had a big amp I know I would be tempted to turn it ON. Top Band has me thinking about it. Better antennas first. 73, Bill KU8H ___ UR RST IS ... ... ..9 QSB QSB - hw? BK
Re: Topband: TB season
Hi, I sent a private email to one of the first hams to post about this. Apparently there is a lot of interest on the list about this. I am new to 160 meters and struggling to get my radios and antennas up to par. I was dismayed to see that there is a season. I surely expect propagation to change but I expected to be more or less able to find some QSOs most of the time. I was pleased to see hams respond favorably about staying on the air. I do participate in some of the contests but I am more interested in rag chewing. As I make improvements in my station equipment I hope I'll be working more and more Top Band hams. 73, Bill KU8H ___ UR RST IS ... ... ..9 QSB QSB - hw? BK
Re: Topband: TB season
For those who take their antennas down, the season is definitely over 73 N4FX -Original Message- From: topband-boun...@contesting.com [mailto:topband-boun...@contesting.com] On Behalf Of Jim Brown Sent: Thursday, March 15, 2012 11:29 PM To: topband@contesting.com Subject: Re: Topband: TB season On 3/15/2012 5:01 PM, Jon Zaimes AA1K wrote: I've worked JA's in April and August. Europe and the Mideast can be worked all summer long, as well as VK/ZL and much of the southern hemisphere -- where it's their winter. So the season can be what you make of it. YES! How would North America and EU work VK/ZL or South America if the guys in the lower hemisphere had our parochial attitude about the season? It's another self-fulfilling prophesy -- if you're not on the air, you're not going work anyone who is. 73, Jim K9YC ___ UR RST IS ... ... ..9 QSB QSB - hw? BK ___ UR RST IS ... ... ..9 QSB QSB - hw? BK
Re: Topband: TB season
It is always with great reluctance that I coil up my radials and put them in the garage when the season is over. Even though I have no choice, I hate being a fair weather friend to Top Band. It is also with humility that I work stations in the Southern Hemisphere during the long nights of Winter here. During the 2009 SP TBDC, I managed to work ZL3IX. Even though it was his Summer Solstice, I think he was copying me a bit better than I was copying him! 73, Chuck NI0C Jim Brown, K9YC, wrote: How would North America and EU work VK/ZL or South America if the guys in the lower hemisphere had our parochial attitude about the season? ___ UR RST IS ... ... ..9 QSB QSB - hw? BK
Re: Topband: TB season
Now there's the statement that says it all! Of every comment made here, some of them pretty ridiculous, the one below makes the most senseBravo. BILL K4OWR For those who take their antennas down, the season is definitely over 73 N4FX ___ UR RST IS ... ... ..9 QSB QSB - hw? BK
Re: Topband: TB season
On 2012-03-16, at 10:13 AM, K4OWR wrote: Now there's the statement that says it all! Of every comment made here, some of them pretty ridiculous, the one below makes the most senseBravo. True enough... But alas alack---sadly!---we are not all blessed with the acreage wide-open spaces to indulge in our passion a full 12 months a year... Would it were so that we could ALL indulge in the mysteries delights of 160-meters around the year...but I'll take whatever I can, whenever I can, because, ...T'is far better to have Topbanded and lost (a coupla months), than to never have Topbanded at all...! Hi Hi (apologies to Bill Shakespeare, or whomever it was who wrote the unaltered original)...: ) ~73~ de Eddy VE3CUI - VE3XZ ___ UR RST IS ... ... ..9 QSB QSB - hw? BK
Re: Topband: TB season
Sigh guess I stand admonished for even THINKING about leaving Top Band off my list of bands to check every so often during the Spring, Summer and early Fall months. Will there be SOME communication opportunities, even with my puny QRP signal I'll keep it all goin' along, albeit I may lower my three 25' top loading NORD-shaped wires! Can't stand to be left out! Hi Hi So, if'n you big guns hear my peanut whistle PULEEZ don't blow me off as you have in the pastif you're calling CQ DX and hear my peanut whistle, stop who ever you're attempting to do and at least say Hi and give me the requisite 339 RST, OK? I'll continue to be a lurker.72, Jim Rodenkirch, K9JWV P.S. hope to meet some of you at this year's FDIM with at least one day devoted to the Hamvention. From: chetmo...@cox.net To: j...@audiosystemsgroup.com; topband@contesting.com Date: Fri, 16 Mar 2012 09:20:51 -0400 Subject: Re: Topband: TB season For those who take their antennas down, the season is definitely over 73 N4FX -Original Message- From: topband-boun...@contesting.com [mailto:topband-boun...@contesting.com] On Behalf Of Jim Brown Sent: Thursday, March 15, 2012 11:29 PM To: topband@contesting.com Subject: Re: Topband: TB season On 3/15/2012 5:01 PM, Jon Zaimes AA1K wrote: I've worked JA's in April and August. Europe and the Mideast can be worked all summer long, as well as VK/ZL and much of the southern hemisphere -- where it's their winter. So the season can be what you make of it. YES! How would North America and EU work VK/ZL or South America if the guys in the lower hemisphere had our parochial attitude about the season? It's another self-fulfilling prophesy -- if you're not on the air, you're not going work anyone who is. 73, Jim K9YC ___ UR RST IS ... ... ..9 QSB QSB - hw? BK ___ UR RST IS ... ... ..9 QSB QSB - hw? BK ___ UR RST IS ... ... ..9 QSB QSB - hw? BK
Re: Topband: TB season
I think we need a July contest. Dave WX7G On Mar 15, 2012 9:28 PM, Jim Brown j...@audiosystemsgroup.com wrote: On 3/15/2012 5:01 PM, Jon Zaimes AA1K wrote: I've worked JA's in April and August. Europe and the Mideast can be worked all summer long, as well as VK/ZL and much of the southern hemisphere -- where it's their winter. So the season can be what you make of it. YES! How would North America and EU work VK/ZL or South America if the guys in the lower hemisphere had our parochial attitude about the season? It's another self-fulfilling prophesy -- if you're not on the air, you're not going work anyone who is. 73, Jim K9YC ___ UR RST IS ... ... ..9 QSB QSB - hw? BK ___ UR RST IS ... ... ..9 QSB QSB - hw? BK
Re: Topband: TB season
are there any plans for a Jine Stew Perry this year? last year it was on 1500Z, Jun 18 to 1500Z, Jun 19, 2011 GB 73 K5OAI Sam Morgan On 3/16/2012 10:09 AM, DAVID CUTHBERT wrote: I think we need a July contest. Dave WX7G ___ UR RST IS ... ... ..9 QSB QSB - hw? BK
Re: Topband: TB season
Thanks Sam, I didn't know about the summer Stew. I'll be there. WX7G On Mar 16, 2012 9:26 AM, Sam Morgan k5oai@gmail.com wrote: are there any plans for a Jine Stew Perry this year? last year it was on 1500Z, Jun 18 to 1500Z, Jun 19, 2011 GB 73 K5OAI Sam Morgan On 3/16/2012 10:09 AM, DAVID CUTHBERT wrote: I think we need a July contest. Dave WX7G ___ UR RST IS ... ... ..9 QSB QSB - hw? BK ___ UR RST IS ... ... ..9 QSB QSB - hw? BK
Re: Topband: TB season
S Please don't encourage those trememdous US stations with their fantastic operators to stay on 160m after the season !! Us QRPers need to gain any possible advantage :-)) 72 Jim / W1FMR --- On Fri, 3/16/12, Bill Cromwell wrcromw...@gmail.com wrote: From: Bill Cromwell wrcromw...@gmail.com Subject: Re: Topband: TB season To: topband@contesting.com Date: Friday, March 16, 2012, 8:06 AM Hi, I sent a private email to one of the first hams to post about this. Apparently there is a lot of interest on the list about this. I am new to 160 meters and struggling to get my radios and antennas up to par. I was dismayed to see that there is a season. I surely expect propagation to change but I expected to be more or less able to find some QSOs most of the time. I was pleased to see hams respond favorably about staying on the air. I do participate in some of the contests but I am more interested in rag chewing. As I make improvements in my station equipment I hope I'll be working more and more Top Band hams. 73, Bill KU8H ___ UR RST IS ... ... ..9 QSB QSB - hw? BK ___ UR RST IS ... ... ..9 QSB QSB - hw? BK
Re: Topband: TB season
On 16/03/2012 15:00, James Rodenkirch wrote: Sigh guess I stand admonished for even THINKING about leaving Top Band off my list of bands to check every so often during the Spring, Summer and early Fall months. Will there be SOME communication opportunities, even with my puny QRP signal I'll keep it all goin' along, albeit I may lower my three 25' top loading NORD-shaped wires! Can't stand to be left out! Hi Hi So, if'n you big guns hear my peanut whistle PULEEZ don't blow me off as you have in the pastif you're calling CQ DX and hear my peanut whistle, stop who ever you're attempting to do and at least say Hi and give me the requisite 339 RST, OK? I'll continue to be a lurker.72, Jim Rodenkirch, K9JWV P.S. hope to meet some of you at this year's FDIM with at least one day devoted to the Hamvention. I won't be at the Hamvention, but if I hear you I'll most certainly give you a call. Being old and decrepit, I don't change much aerialwise from one decade to another if I can help it. What's in the sky or under the ground stays there. We don't have animals here that eat antennas. Enjoy the summer - I will! d.v. I'll be putting up a new pole (no masts allowed, the house is 15th Century with listing restrictions) with more chance of working something outside Europe on top band (like in the good old days!) 73 Keith G3OIT ___ UR RST IS ... ... ..9 QSB QSB - hw? BK
Re: Topband: TB season
Bill and now it's over till next year? I don't know how it is in W4 and/or W2, but here in 7-land the season is not over, although if people think it is it often appears to be. For trans-Pacific paths the prop is better from May to September, especially for northern and western VK. 73 Bob VE7BS - Original Message - From: K4OWR k2...@comcast.net To: topband@contesting.com Sent: Thursday, March 15, 2012 3:55 PM Subject: Re: Topband: TB season ___ UR RST IS ... ... ..9 QSB QSB - hw? BK
Re: Topband: TB season
Bill and all, as a newcomer you can find on my website a lot of graphs showing the season behaviour of 160 meters. For example give a look at these pages http://www.iv3prk.it/north-america.htm and http://www.iv3prk.it/peaking-times.htm and you see that Topband season never ends: In the last 20 years I been active on 160m. almost every day and antennas are always the same, winter and summer: 4 elevated radials for transmitting and NO Beverages for receiving, so no problems for gardening and grass mowing! 73 Luis IV3PRK www.iv3prk.it - Original Message - From: Bill Cromwell wrcromw...@gmail.com To: topband@contesting.com Sent: Friday, March 16, 2012 1:06 PM Subject: Re: Topband: TB season Hi, I sent a private email to one of the first hams to post about this. Apparently there is a lot of interest on the list about this. I am new to 160 meters and struggling to get my radios and antennas up to par. I was dismayed to see that there is a season. I surely expect propagation to change but I expected to be more or less able to find some QSOs most of the time. I was pleased to see hams respond favorably about staying on the air. I do participate in some of the contests but I am more interested in rag chewing. As I make improvements in my station equipment I hope I'll be working more and more Top Band hams. 73, Bill KU8H ___ UR RST IS ... ... ..9 QSB QSB - hw? BK ___ UR RST IS ... ... ..9 QSB QSB - hw? BK
Re: Topband: TB Season
On 3/16/2012 2:46 PM, Tom Boucher wrote: G3OIT wrote: We don't have animals here that eat antennas Well something just ate my control cable to my remote antenna switch box! Pesky rabbits I think. 73 Tom G3OLB ___ Tom, I thought that years ago the UK government sent most of the rabbits to VK! Herb, KV4FZ ___ UR RST IS ... ... ..9 QSB QSB - hw? BK
Re: Topband: TB season
Hi, When I first joined this list I mentioned having read articles by hams who worked 160 with mobile radios with 10 to 50 watts output to *mobile* antennas. They were not working the antipodes every day but they *were* making mobile QSOs. I have a big chunk of wire that apparently favors the general direction West. I have a small lot (100 X 100 feet) so I my big hunk or wire (180 feet) is not straight. However...it is far superior to a mobile antenna! Even with the present limitations I can still work other stations. Sometimes stations that are a long way off to the west. Just like all the other bands, I'll listen to 160 from time to time to see what might available. There are always surprises on the air. I already know I am more likely to hear more stations farther away at night, winter, etc. If I think there is any chance at all of even a more local QSO I will put out a call. Almost all of my old gear has failing caps and some out of spec resistors. I have another batch of ordered and there will be another round of improvement. I think I'll soon have my Johnson Ranger and my DX-100 back on the air. Both have 160 and I'll be playing in the Top Band sandbox again. Stew Perry again? Sweet. 73, Bill KU8H ___ UR RST IS ... ... ..9 QSB QSB - hw? BK
Re: Topband: TB season
In the 50's as a HS student I worked many 160M AM mobiles out to 20 miles or so and they worked each other out to about 10 miles unless they were along the salt water area roads and then they were much louder. This was down on LI, NY. These were commuters during mostly daylight hours when the noise level was very low. During the winter dark hours it was a mixed bag and I certainly didnt understand propagation very well then. Many also were on 10 and 11M (yes, it was a ham band) when 160 was poor. My 160M horizontal back then was about 15' highpre NVIS days (-; and the rig was a Johnson Viking I with 122 VFO and Hammarlund HQ-129X. Carl KM1H - Original Message - From: Bill Cromwell wrcromw...@gmail.com To: topband@contesting.com Sent: Friday, March 16, 2012 3:31 PM Subject: Re: Topband: TB season Hi, When I first joined this list I mentioned having read articles by hams who worked 160 with mobile radios with 10 to 50 watts output to *mobile* antennas. They were not working the antipodes every day but they *were* making mobile QSOs. I have a big chunk of wire that apparently favors the general direction West. I have a small lot (100 X 100 feet) so I my big hunk or wire (180 feet) is not straight. However...it is far superior to a mobile antenna! Even with the present limitations I can still work other stations. Sometimes stations that are a long way off to the west. Just like all the other bands, I'll listen to 160 from time to time to see what might available. There are always surprises on the air. I already know I am more likely to hear more stations farther away at night, winter, etc. If I think there is any chance at all of even a more local QSO I will put out a call. Almost all of my old gear has failing caps and some out of spec resistors. I have another batch of ordered and there will be another round of improvement. I think I'll soon have my Johnson Ranger and my DX-100 back on the air. Both have 160 and I'll be playing in the Top Band sandbox again. Stew Perry again? Sweet. 73, Bill KU8H ___ UR RST IS ... ... ..9 QSB QSB - hw? BK - No virus found in this message. Checked by AVG - www.avg.com Version: 10.0.1424 / Virus Database: 2113/4874 - Release Date: 03/16/12 ___ UR RST IS ... ... ..9 QSB QSB - hw? BK
Re: Topband: TB Season
They got new animals over there now, dont you read the papers(-; Carl KM1H - Original Message - From: Herb Schoenbohm he...@vitelcom.net To: topband@contesting.com Sent: Friday, March 16, 2012 3:26 PM Subject: Re: Topband: TB Season On 3/16/2012 2:46 PM, Tom Boucher wrote: G3OIT wrote: We don't have animals here that eat antennas Well something just ate my control cable to my remote antenna switch box! Pesky rabbits I think. 73 Tom G3OLB ___ Tom, I thought that years ago the UK government sent most of the rabbits to VK! Herb, KV4FZ ___ UR RST IS ... ... ..9 QSB QSB - hw? BK - No virus found in this message. Checked by AVG - www.avg.com Version: 10.0.1424 / Virus Database: 2113/4874 - Release Date: 03/16/12 ___ UR RST IS ... ... ..9 QSB QSB - hw? BK
Re: Topband: TB season
Oh, no, you should all belive the 160 meter season is overfoundly looking at my first in world SOSB160 certf from the AADX contest a few years back, while stroking softly my NC183 in the soft light of my 833athanks Rush, you sold me some good tubes... mike w7dra 57 Year Old Looks 27 Local Woman Reveals Wrinkle Secret That Has Doctors Angry. http://thirdpartyoffers.juno.com/TGL3141/4f63b4d9a6f212444bb9st02vuc ___ UR RST IS ... ... ..9 QSB QSB - hw? BK
Re: Topband: TB season
After 56 years licensed and active for every one of them, the recent contest was basically my first real time on 160. I put up a simple dipole, and an inverted L which didn't work well. I also have a 750' beverage aimed west for rcve. I'm almost ashamed to admit that I didn't realize the band had a season and now it's over till next year? I guess I got quite a false impression from the contest where I worked almost 750 stations, in every continental state, every Canadian province, and 12 countries. So now it's over? BILL K4OWR On 3/15/2012 6:43 PM, Slavek Zeler wrote: Hi all, I have this experience. Last season I worked with all U.S. stateson TB. But ending the season was very bad. Although I have worked with several new countries, but not so many stations from west coast. With better RX antenna system nothink. We must wait for next season. Gl to all Slavek ok1tn ___ UR RST IS ... ... ..9 QSB QSB - hw? BK ___ UR RST IS ... ... ..9 QSB QSB - hw? BK
